Californian aerospace outfit XCOR has thrown its hat into the space tourism ring with the announcement that its two-seat Lynx suborbital spaceship will be carrying paying customers aloft within two years.
The Lynx suborbital vehicle. Pic: XCOR Lynx promises a 30-minute ride (flight profile here [pdf]) topping out at 200,000ft ( …

@Gordon

That is exactly what it is, a cheap means to get somewhere. Then again, I do not really think that vehicle looks like that "half-car-half-motorcycle" thingy which made feel embarrassed of being a Brit when i was still at school on the continent ...

XCOR Lynx does not go to SPACE!

CEO Jeff may be a nice guy, but he needs to dust of his highschool science book! The internationally recognized boundary of "space" is an altitude of 100km. The Lynx AIRCRAFT has max altitude capability of 61km. Anyone paying $100K for a trip to space will be getting an expensive lesson in proper definitions. I'm sure it will be a fun high altitude PLANE ride, but SPACEcraft it is not! And what's up with Ricky Searfoss comments??? He's been to space, but apparently can't remember the way?

Cost cuts are fine, but tell it like it is

All well and good Bruce. I'm just commenting on the fact that "Lynx" and "Space" are being discussed in the same article. XCOR is pushing PR of "Space travel" in direct association with their "Maximum altitude 61KM Lynx ride" and it is very misleading. Tell people it can go twice as high as Mig25, tell people it will go Mach 2, but don't tell or lead people to believe they will be in SPACE.